Comic-Con is:

After several years of disappointment with San Francisco’s yearly Wondercon, I decided to venture down to So. Cal for its annual Comic-Con.

What’s Comic-Con?

Comic-Con is: a long ways away. If you’re driving, even leaving San Francisco in the wee small hours of the morning can’t prevent you from hitting a wall of cars once you get past the grapevine. I’ve done the SF to LA drive a number of times, and every single time I have hit traffic. Even when arriving in LA at 3 in the morning. And it doesn’t get better past Orange County either, believe me. Next time? I’m flying.

Comic-Con is: hot. And not in the exciting, buzz-worthy way. San Diego is just inherently warmer than San Francisco, that’s no surprise. I’ll admit I’m a big baby when it comes to hot weather, and in all honesty, San Diego hasn’t been all that warm. But standing amongst the throngs of fellow Comic-Con attendees on the exhibition floor doesn’t help matters, air conditioning or not.

Comic-Con is: disappointment. The kind of disappointment one gets from

sitting through half of a presentation on Halo, listening to fans ask questions about the minutiae of their particular weapon, just so you can get a good seat for a panel about the movie “Tatua,” because Michael Madsen is scheduled to appear, only to watch his printed out name plate get turned inside out so someone else’s name can be written on it. Mr. Blonde, you broke my heart.

Comic-Con is: being overrun by Hollywood. What began as a convention aimed solely at the comic book-crowd, is now a platform for huge marketing booths and presentations by networks and movie studios. The largest hall in the center is reserved for these presentations, and most require standing in a line that extends outside and around the building for at least an hour to get into, just so you can sit way in the back and watch the panel of guests on a video screen.

Comic-Con is: walking. From one room to the next, from one building to the next, from one booth the next. The exhibition floor seems to stretch for miles, with at least a thousand publishers, artists, and studios selling their wares. The entire convention center covers several city blocks, easy. It’s just cruel to make so many overweight nerds walk that much. And I include myself in that group.

Comic-Con is: more fun than I’m making it sound. But right now, its sapped me of all my strength and gumption. The “Comic-Con Is Great” post will have to wait until tomorrow.

San Francisco native Rain Jokinen watches too much TV and thinks you should, too. She’s been writing about TV for 10 years in her Musty TV email newsletter and blog, and is the TV columnist for SFist.com.